Background information
General Knowledge * It is currently summer 2018. * The world is on the edge as the crisis in Ukraine has escalated to open warfare again Russia has intervened and NATO is on the borders edging ever closer to war. * Turkey has left NATO . * The conflict in Syria smoulders but the US has practically withdrawn from the region upon growing geopolitical weakness. * ISIS is defeated militarily. * South america has had a rash of coups and counter coups. * Brexit negotiations are midway through but both sides claim the outlook is bleak. * Poland has declared it is leaving the union and Italy is due to hold a vote on the issue. Malden * The island had a major military conflict at the end of the cold war between a rogue faction of the USSR and NATO after the failed coup attempt in moscow. * The island has a small Russian disapora in the northern regions but is mostly western european. * The island used to train the military on previously has been out of bounds since the cold war due to unexploded munitions and laid mines. * The main population centres are in the south. * The island is mostly reliant on its farming exports which are renowed for their high quality & organic label. * There is no requirement for a drivers lisence. Maldens Military *The military of Malden is the Malden Self Defence Force. *It was established in the wake of the cold war invasion from the FIA (free island army) *For a small island the MSDF has a large ammount of kit *it controls the military base, radio area towers and former sigint site. *Recently it has been involved in tackling a minor insurgency among the russian population. *It lost 2/3 of it's tanks in the operation & was accused to systematic brutality against the russian minority by the Kremlin *It has hired ION private security contractors to bring it into the 21st century *Operation FIA is the emergency plan for if the islands once again become occupied & involve taking as much kit as possible and hiding it around the island in caches. * Operation FIA can be delcared by any officer over the rank of leiutenant & must be carried out immidiately in the wake of any invasion to preserve resources. Russia * Has a strategic interest in Malden due to its location close to shipping lanes from the southern ports. * Has a large part of its enhanced readiness troops deployed already & is starting to call up its reserve troops. * Russians normally operate in "motor rifle division" these are made up of 3 regiments of infantry carriers (APC/IFV) 1 regiment of tanks 1 Recce regiment and a large attached support group which can include tac air and artillery. * Each division should be viewed as a self contained army. * The classic tactics for motor rifle divisons is to advance in column until contact & then to split into wedge, tanks at the from and IFVs behind them. * Motor rifle troops can also be inserted by helicopter, though in this case they are expected to complete a single objective and hold until the breakthrough units reach them. * the VDV is the russian air mobile units & are a very competent outfit. * After inserting by air they are expected to fight and operate in a way which is similar to western paratroops. * The Russian army is ill equiped to deal with insurgencies as it still has a very centralised command structure.